


The Ocean and You

by noraphi



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Established Relationship, Jooheon is a surfer, M/M, Melancholy, Minhyuk struggles but it's getting better, Nostalgia, alternative universe, at the beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 08:53:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17825684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noraphi/pseuds/noraphi
Summary: "In his previous life, Minhyuk was a mermaid.He almost remembers it. He can almost place his finger on the spot where the memory is missing in his heart."





	The Ocean and You

In his previous life, Minhyuk was a mermaid. 

He almost remembers it. He can almost place his finger on the spot where the memory is missing in his heart. The absence of it feels so heavy and almost painful, just almost, but still. It’s enough to make him homesick. It’s enough to make him understand why he always feels so out of place. 

He’s at the beach, lying on a blanket in the sand, facing the ocean. It's the only place of comfort he knows. The only place filling his heart to the brim, filling it with those memories he had lost somewhere between lives. Here at the beach, he can feel them all. They’re so close, he can almost touch them. Stretching his hand to the waves crushing on the shore, he watches the water running up to him, trying to reach him, trying to take him back home. But it's one of those days again, it’s leaving without him, and Minhyuk buries his fingertips into the sand. At least, withdrawing his hand doesn’t hurt anymore.

Summer is long gone, and there’s hardly a human soul roaming the coast. Minhyuk pulls his jacket tighter around himself, closing his eyes. Goosebumps are running down his spine when the sound of the crashing waves is rushing into his head, crinkling and caressing his mind, just to retreat again. It comes back with greater force, brushing through his thoughts, filling every corner with no memories before leaving him empty once more.

Minhyuk is so used to those pictureless notions, that he actually doesn't know what to do with the sudden vision of himself from his childhood. He remembers spending hours in the bathtub until the water turned cold. He didn't even notice. He had been so busy with holding his breath and sliding his head under water, over and over again, until he felt dizzy, until his mother had to scold him. There was no way to explain to her how there was this moment under water when he could hear the whales singing. They were telling him stories from home, and Minhyuk wanted to hear them all.

These days, Minhyuk is still losing his sense of time in the bathtub. He will sink into the water, covering his ears with the pulsing waves of contained echos, drowning himself fully in the bittersweet comfort of his previous life. But the whales won’t sing for him anymore. They must have given up on him. They must have realized that he doesn’t belong anymore. Just as Minhyuk had to realize it for himself.

It was the day his father had thrown him into the pool, and Minhyuk had to find out that he couldn’t swim. He just couldn’t figure out how to use those lanky legs to save his life. He also really didn’t need another confirmation that he wasn’t able to breathe underwater, but he got it anyway, and it hurt like hell. He felt betrayed for many years.

But maybe, that was the price to pay for living this life. Maybe, giving up his home was the condition to meet the love of his life. Maybe, if given the chance, he’d even agree once more because maybe, Jooheon is the love of all of his lives.

Minhyuk opens his eyes and knows exactly where to spot him a fair distance away. The waves are small today, but Jooheon takes them with such stubbornness, Minhyuk can’t help but smile. 

Jooheon is a force of nature. He’s like those waves on windy days, fearlessly crashing into rocks. He’s not afraid to break. And if he does, he just collects himself and tries again. He’s like a part of the ocean that can actually reach beyond the shore, that can grab Minhyuk by the hand and pull him home. And he did, two years ago, when Minhyuk had decided to forgive the water for it’s betrayal. 

It had been a cold day in autumn, and Minhyuk was sitting on the beach, staring at the ocean for far too long. He had been gone for far too long, and the water was flooding his heart and pressing at his throat. The abandonment still hurt but he didn't care. He wouldn't leave. He didn't care that he wasn't wanted, he really didn't care. Those waves could come and crush his soul, he wouldn't leave. 

It was so cold he was shaking, but he wasn’t aware until a warm weight dropped onto his shoulders, pulling him out of his thoughts. He looked at the unfamiliar coat and then up at a handsome boy in a black wetsuit and ginger red hair. 

“Could you keep it safe for me while I’m out there?” the stranger asked, showing off the prettiest dimples Minhyuk had ever seen.

“Sure,” Minhyuk replied with a husky voice that vanished with the crushing waves.

He pulled the coat tighter around himself, watching the handsome boy walking away with a surfboard under his arm. He used the board to glide casually onto the water, floating on the surface, waiting for the next wave to invite him on a joint trip, and he didn’t have to wait for long. He jumped up on his board, and the ocean just took him along, made him part of the waves, and it seemed so easy. They’ve been rushing down the beach like old friends, and Minhyuk fell deeply in love that day.

He still doesn’t get tired of watching Jooheon becoming one with the ocean. It just feels so perfectly right. It feels as if he has finally found a memory from his previous life, and he wants to treasure it, watch it over and over again, forever. 

“Come with me,” Jooheon had once said, standing up from the blanket they were sharing on the beach.

“You know I can’t swim,” Minhyuk replied without looking up from the ocean, and Jooheon squatted down in front of him, catching his eyes.

“I can teach you.”

Minhyuk believed him. 

How could he not believe those pretty dark eyes, when it felt like the ocean himself had come to take his hand?

But Minhyuk wasn’t ready that day. He wasn’t ready to face the risk of failing, of drowning again. He had just manage to get back to the surface, to find his breath.

“It’s okay,” Jooheon said. “We'll take it slow.” 

But those gorgeous dimples made Minhyuk so impatient. He didn’t want to take it slow. He leaned in, so very curious about the taste of the ocean on Jooheon's lips, and when their lips met for the very first time, they both chuckled at the sweetness.

No, Minhyuk will never get tired of watching Jooheon playing with the ocean. But it’s getting late and the next time Jooheon loses his balance, falling into the water, he doesn’t get up on the board again. Instead, he pushes it to the shore.

Reaching Minhyuk, he sticks the board into the sand, and ruffles through his hair. Minhyuk sits up, looking for Jooheon’s towel, but Jooheon doesn’t wait. He lets himself drop onto the blanket, pushing Minhyuk back down with a kiss.

“What are you doing?” Minhyuk chuckles into Jooheon’s mouth, instinctively putting his arms around him, ignoring the wet neoprene.

“It’s cold. I need you to warm me,” Jooheon replies, nuzzling his cold nose into the crook of Minhyuk’s neck, and Minhyuk squeals, trying to push him away.

“We’ve been out here for two hours. I have no warmth left to share,” Minhyuk says while Jooheon slides off him, pulling him against his chest into a little spoon.

“Let’s go home then, before you catch a cold,” Jooheon mutters, kissing Minhyuk’s neck, and Minhyuk sighs, his eyes back on the waves.

“Can’t we stay a few more minutes?”

Jooheon chuckles into Minhyuk’s ear. “Do you love the ocean more than me?”

“Haven’t I left the ocean for you?” Minhyuk turns around to face him.

Once they were lying in bed with their pants long gone, and Jooheon was gently stroking over the whale tattoo on Minhyuk’s knee, asking about its meaning. After telling him his story, Minhyuk expected Jooheon to laugh at him, but Jooheon just said: “I’m so glad you’re here, then,” placing soft kisses on the tattoo and further up on Minhyuk’s thigh, nibbling at the sensitive skin on the inside.

The memory is warming Minhyuk’s face, and Jooheon must have thought the same, because his dimples get even deeper before he leans in, claiming Minhyuk’s lips with a longing, Minhyuk is so willing to return.

“Let’s go home,” he whispers against Jooheon’s lips, but Jooheon pulls Minhyuk on top of him.

“A few more minutes,” Jooheon murmurs between kisses, hugging Minhyuk’s hips with his thighs, and Minhyuk chuckles, enjoying those soft waves of pleasure. He really doesn’t mind drowning in Jooheon’s arms.

Deep down in his bones Minhyuk knows that in his previous life he must have been a mermaid, because he's so sure, the day Jooheon stops loving him, he will turn into foam.


End file.
